Boston Blotter: More Details on Craigslist Masseuse Murder

-- Bostonist has been known to read the Craigslist personals and erotic services ads for amusement—a lurid and sometimes hilarious glimpse at a semi-private underworld. But we rarely consider, in concrete terms, the plight of sex workers. More details were released today regarding Tuesday's murder of a Craigslist masseuse operating out of the Copley Marriott that give us an insight into at least one tragic story.

The victim was Julissa Brisman, a 26-year-old New Yorker who was a part time model and actress. She was a recovering alcoholic. She had trouble paying her bills. Friends say she was skinny, maybe too skinny; witnesses thought that she was a girl when they found her murdered body. She was shot to death after a struggle during which somebody, probably her killer, tried to tie her up with plastic ties. Her friends thought she had left the grey world of escorting behind her.

Boston's newspapers are running details like this because they get pageviews. Search traffic is bringing hordes of readers to Bostonist and other websites because the story of a 26-year-old white New Yorker murdered in an upscale hotel activates some basic, human voyeuristic impulse—the same impulse that makes reading Craigslist ads so titillating. But the reality is that Brisman's death, no doubt tragic, is just the worst case scenario for a Boston sex worker. Brisman's murder was linked to an earlier robbery at the Westin Copley, and cops investigating the case have opened a flood gate of unreported robberies among Boston's escorts. It happens all the time.

Violence against women, which goes unreported even within marriages and other legal relationships, is a daily reality for sex workers and one that they can do little to combat. If Brisman's death does nothing else—and we want her killer brought to swift justice—it should serve as a reminder of the perils of sex work and how little we do to protect people like Julissa Brisman from harm. [Herald, Globe]

-- Wrong place, wrong time. Two Boston cops, including an Internal Affairs official, were working a detail for a Roxbury bar when it was rolled over in an underage drinking sting. [Herald]

-- A 24-year-old Cambridge man lost his photography equipment at gunpoint to a robber in Cambridgeport. [Cambridge Chronicle]